Saviors
Saviors is a fifth season episode of House which aired on April 13, 2009. As the staff recovers from the tragedy of the previous week, Cameron presents House with the case of Doug Swenson (portrayed by Tim Rock), an environmentalist who collapses during a protest. Meanwhile, both House and Cuddy question Cameron's motives - is she in love with House? Recap At an environmental protest, protesters chain themselves to heavy equipment as the police keep the angry workers away from them. All of a sudden, one of the protesters collapses and the police say she doesn't have a pulse and ask her fellow protester to release the chains she's using. However, the policeman was lying - she was just dehydrated and it was a ruse. One of her fellow protesters rises to confront the policeman, but is suddenly disoriented. He collapses, conscious, but unable to stand. Cameron approaches Chase, telling him she has to postpone the seaside getaway they have planned. She says she owes a favor to a referring doctor and needs to bring a case to House. The patient is Doug, an environmental activist, who collapsed during a demonstration. Chase insists that it will only take a few minutes to hand the case over to House, but Cameron says she needs to be sure House doesn't ignore it, and as soon as she's sure House is "really on the case," she'll leave with Chase. When Cameron approaches House and the team, the first thing House says is that Cameron is obviously trying to step into the deceased shoes of Kutner, who'd killed himself the week before. Thirteen thinks there's no mystery, as the "nutcase" patient spends his time at toxic waste dumps. Cameron tells the team that toxins have been ruled out, as well as cardiovascular, neurological or muscular abnormalities, and has already mentioned that the patient has been seen by three specialists. Taub and House think the patient is faking, but after Cameron pushes, House decides the patient needs a vestibular caloric test, to confirm balance problems, possibly in the inner ear - but orders Cameron, not his team, to perform it. During this scene, it's revealed that the patient is single - and Taub thinks his environmentalist activities are just trying to attract women. Cameron performs the test, injecting ice water in the patient's ear canal, but not before the patient complains about the flowers in the room. He requests they be removed from every room, as commercial growers use pesticides. Cameron says he can go back to saving the planet once his problem is fixed. The patient then reacts to the test by becoming very dizzy and vomiting on Cameron. Meanwhile, House approaches Wilson in the cafeteria and tells him that Cameron brought him a case. Wilson insists that Cameron is happy in the ER, and there's no way she wants to be back on House's team. Wilson orders a healthy breakfast, which immediately arouses House's curiosity and questioning. Wilson insists he just doesn't feel like eating bacon all the time. Wilson takes this opportunity to suggest that House is trying to avoid talking about Kutner, and that it's odd, considering they'd worked together for two years. House says Kutner's no longer on the team and that he's sorry about that, but that's all there is to discuss. Wilson then points out that House is wearing the watch Kutner gave him for Christmas, but House deflects by pointing out all the cool functions it has. House doesn't order anything - he says he's not hungry. While Cameron is on her way back to report the results of the vestibular caloric test, the team discusses House's motives for making Cameron run the test while the rest of them sit around doing nothing. Taub points out that it's weird, Thirteen suggests that maybe he needs mothering, and Foreman says that's not the kind of mothering House is looking for - he prefers prostitutes. Cameron tells House that although the test made the patient "lose his lunch," his calories are normal, his inner ear is fine, but he still can't balance himself. Taub asks how many normal test results are needed before it's decided that the guy is faking. House notices that Cameron has changed her shoes, indicating that the patient is not faking. If he were, he would have vomited on the other side of the bed. Foreman suggests the patient is under stress from constant battles with the police and that stress can cause carotid atherosclerosis, which could explain the loss of balance. Cameron notes that this diagnosis would be missed on an MRI and CT scan. Thirteen points out that this could be a big warning that the patient is about to have a massive stroke. House orders Cameron, not the team, to do a Holter and a carotid doppler to see if the patient's heart has an abnormal rhythm. During the doppler, the patient has hiccups and tells Cameron he's been hiccuping several hours a day for about a week, which concerns Cameron. She runs into Chase, who asks if they're still leaving the next day, and she says she's not sure. She says the hiccups could indicate something serious. Chase asks if Cameron is avoiding him. She says she's not, but there's a reason she needs to stay with the case and she can't tell him why. Chase asks if she's admitting that she lied to him AND expects him to trust her, and she says yes. Chase gives her a reluctant, "Okay." Cameron reports to House that there's no sign of heart or arterial problems, but mentions the hiccups, which finally makes House intrigued by the case - or so he says. He tells Cameron that she can go back to the ER, or rather, on the little vacation she's supposed to take. House believes she's ditching Chase, which is why she's sticking to the case. Cameron insists that she just cares about the patient. House maintains it doesn't explain why she ran the tests as she doesn't work for House and doesn't have to follow his orders. He asks her if she still has the "hots" for him. House continues to question her motives for taking this case instead of going away with Chase. Cameron conducts a differential diagnosis with the team, giving House an opportunity to jab Cameron about Chase in front of the team. Thirteen suggests a brain issue, but House shoots it down, as Cameron has already scanned the patient's head. Cameron suggests organophosphate poisoning, from his crusade against commercial flower growers, but Foreman points out that there's missing symptoms which doesn't make that idea fit. Taub suggests Multiple sclerosis, given the patient's nationality. House tells Cameron to do a lumbar puncture, alone again, despite the difficulty of performing this procedure on a patient with hiccups. The team is still left to do nothing. Cameron gets Foreman to help her hold the patient down during the LP, giving Foreman an opportunity to question Cameron's motives as well. He says he'd be happy to have her back on the team to replace Kutner, but it would destroy her relationship with Chase. Cameron is unable to do the LP because of the patient's hiccups. Chase asks Cuddy if they are going to replace Kutner. Chase wants to know if Cameron wants the job, but Cuddy tells him she doesn't. He also asks if Cameron is in love with House, and then when Cuddy says Cameron is in love with Chase, he then asks if Cuddy is in love with House. He leaves noting that Cuddy didn't answer either question. Doug's wife comes to see House. She was under the impression he was in jail. House was under the impression that the patient was single. The patient also has a four year old son, which is why the wife was late - she had to arrange child care. House learns Wilson directed the wife to him. House goes to interrupt the lumbar puncture and accuses Cameron of being a shill for Wilson and staying on the case because Wilson is worried about him. Cameron denies it and says it would have been easier for Wilson to keep an eye on House himself without enlisting her. House has to agree. All of a sudden, Foreman notices the patient has a swollen neck. House examines it and describes it as "crunchy". They manage to rule out multiple sclerosis. Thirteen suggests progressive systemic sclerosis, and House agrees and orders treatment and confirmation. This time he orders his team to do it to see what Cameron will do when she doesn't have to be with House or the patient. Cameron returns to the ER and Cuddy comes to tell her Chase is concerned about her. Cuddy asks if Cameron loves House, but Cameron thinks that Cuddy is just trying to keep House for herself. The patient and his wife are arguing about his environmental activities. The patient says he loves his son, but that he shouldn't care more about his son than any other child. House goes to see Wilson at his apartment at 10:30 in the evening. He thinks House is looking for something. House is still concerned about Wilson's healthy diet, and House reveals that he's checked Wilson's medical records and he's fine. House thinks Wilson has been affected by Kutner's death into being healthy. Wilson shows off his ice cream and bacon. The team calls House - the patient is screaming in pain. They do a differential on the phone. House orders antibiotics and leg x-rays to check for osteomyelitis. They can't find any trace of osteomyelitis on the x-rays. Thirteen asks Taub what he talks about with his wife. Taub realizes Thirteen is upset that Foreman doesn't talk much when they are together. Suddenly, they notice the patient has a huge break to a very strong bone - the femur - that wasn't there before - he must have broken the bone merely by lying in bed. The only explanation to a broken bone without signs of trauma is cancer. Thirteen notes once again that the patient spends a lot of time in toxic environments. House orders the bone repaired and chemotherapy. Foreman asks Chase to get a bone biopsy before he repairs the leg with a surgical pin. Chase is surprised that Cameron isn't working on the case any more. Cameron asks why the patient is being prepared for chemotherapy. House thinks Cameron is trying to drive away Chase. Cameron admits that she found out that Chase had bought an engagement ring and she's trying to dodge the question. Kutner's death has upset her and she doesn't want to make a major decision, although she wants to remain with Chase. The bone biopsy shows no cancer, but Foreman admits to the patient they still don't know what is wrong. However, the patient is bleeding from his surgical wound. Foreman checks the bandage and finds extensive bleeding from the incision and evidence of other internal bleeding. Foreman orders clotting factor. Foreman and House argue about cancer. House wants to use total body irradiation because they can't find the cancer. The team points out that if it's not cancer, they will destroy the patient's immune system. Taub suggests a reverse course, giving the patient a drug that will actually make the tumor grow bigger to they can find it and use a targeted approach. House is impressed and agrees to Taub's course of action. House tells Wilson he's lost his mojo. He couldn't see Kutner's suicide coming, he didn't figure out why Cameron was hanging out with him, and now Taub has just come up with a brilliant idea he should have thought of himself. Wilson tells him that maybe Kutner killed himself for no reason and that his skills are as good as they ever were. The wife is mad about the treatment, but the patient is resigned to the treatment. All of a sudden, the patient crashes and goes into defibrillation. Chase finds Cameron in the cafeteria and wonders why Cameron is still not going away with him even though her involvement in the case is over. He also wants to know why she won't tell him why she won't go away with him. She asks for more time, but Chase is reluctant. She tells him it has nothing to do with House, but Chase says that doesn't matter. He asks when he can come to her place to pick up his things. Taub manages to revive the patient. House goes over the symptoms again but his team is out of ideas. House orders the patient hooked up to a defibrillator to keep him alive while they run more tests. House goes to Wilson to say that he's stumped. He also notices that Wilson is hiding what he was going to choose. He finally picks gummy bears, which both he and House don't like. House finally realizes that Wilson is eating healthy to keep House from mooching off of him - House hates healthy food. Wilson says he's screwing with House to get him back into the swing of normal life after grieving over Kutner. Taub explains that to keep him alive they need to install a defibrillator, but House come in to interrupt. He asks if they grow plants because he doesn't like commercial flowers, but they deny it - they live in an apartment. House suggests that the marriage is in trouble. The patient finally admits he ditched an anniversary dinner to go to a rally. His wife was furious, so he bought some roses as a peace offering, but she had left before he got home, taking her suitcase with her. House diagnoses sporotrichosis, which is transmitted by rose thorns. They grew lesions which affected the nerves, and then it spread when they gave him steroids. He will recover and go back to his life as an environmentalist. House tells Cameron the patient is now fine. He accuses her of using him to make Chase dump her instead of dumping him herself. Cameron goes to Chase and apologizes for putting him off and then tells him he knew about his proposal plans and that Kutner's death scared her off. Cameron then asks Chase to propose to her. He does and she accepts. The patient's wife kisses him, then leaves the room. House and Wilson share a laugh. Cuddy delights at the engagement and hugs Cameron. House goes home to play on his piano and his harmonica at the same time. All of a sudden, House sees a vision of Amber, who congratulates him on solving another case. Clinic patient A man comes in with his wife who is suffering from exhaustion, headache, fever and sensitive breasts. House asks about hot tubs, gyms and spas. Cuddy interrupts, and House accepts it, telling her that Cameron doesn't want back on the team or to date House. House returns to the patient and suggests an STD - he diagnoses a skin disease that she could only have gotten from a hot tub that she didn't share with her husband or he would have it too. Major Events * Cameron postpones her holiday with Chase so that she can help House with his current case. * House soon discovers that Wilson was actually screwing around with him over his new healthy food diet. * Chase asks Cameron to marry him. She accepts. * House starts seeing hallucinations of Amber.